IN SMOLENSK AREA AND EAST OF DNIEPER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 September 1941, Page 5

IN SMOLENSK AREA AND EAST OF DNIEPER

Position in Leningrad Area Serious KIEV IN DANGER OF ISOLATION ENEMY THROWN BACK WITH HEAVY LOSSES IN ODESSA REGION LONDON, September 17.. Although the news from the Leningrad area is serious, there are reports of new Russian counter-attacks in the Smolensk area and east of the Dnieper. A German correspondent el aims that the advance on Leningrad has passed the region of swamps and forests and that the German troops now have in front of them the open country of a wide plain. Russian forces, according to another report, have captured a village of strategic importance at the junction of two main roads to Leningrad. About 120 miles south-east of Leningrad the Germans claim to be advancing eastward towards the Leningrad-Moscow railway. The Russians, on the other hand, are reported to have gained a local triumph in a battle lasting for a month, 40 miles north-east .of Smolensk. The Russians broke the German line in this area, in which the Germans had six divisions engaged. The Germans were driven back with the loss of 10,000 men and over 100 guns and a quantity of equipment. This Russian success prevented the Germans from taking reserves for the thrust south-east of Smolensk. Russian troops are said to be now in a position to invest Smolensk. The Germans have lost 45 aircraft in the last two days. There is no news of Kiev, which is in serious danger of isolation. Further down the Dnieper, Berlin admits repeated Russian counterattacks on German bridegheads east of the river. Enemy troops besieging .Odessa have tried in vain to capture new heights and have been thrown back with heavy casualties. Germany is reported to have told the Italian Government that Bulgaria ought now to get busy and enter the war against Russia.